Unfamiliar game behavior

[pacmanfevr76]

I got a replacement for my 2600 a while back. I received several games with it and most of them were titles I had played long ago. There were a couple of bizarre behaviors though.

 

On the game Jungle Hunt, I seem to remember the action happened from left to right. Your character moved towards the right side of the screen. In the game I have now, the action moves right to left. Am I not remembering correctly, or is this gameplay backwards?

 

On the same game, I also remember that during the first boulder stage, the rocks came at a very manageable speed. The large rocks bounced very high and occassionally I could time a move where I stood up early and got an extra 600 or so points, (how much I don't exactly recall, but I remember that there were additional points.) The game I have now, the rocks are going so fast that you have to jump LONG before the little ones get to you, and timing the duck under the large ones is very difficult. In addition, on the boulder stages thereafter, a large boulder is certain death. This stage seems like it has been sped up somehow.

 

The game Defender seems to also show the same hyperactivity. I remember playing the game long ago when I was about ten, and I played through level 100 and quit. I don't recall at any time during that game ever having the ground explode and everything turn mutant. I saved every human taken and the game seemed relatively simple. The game I have now is ridiculously fast. As early as wave five, I can hear the tones signaling a human is captured within three seconds of the start of the wave. Again, is my memory hazy, or does this seem way too fast too early?

[FireTiger]

have screen shots?

 

I'd be willing to send ya a working Jungle Hunt if you want.

Edited July 21, 2005 by FireTiger

[Mindfield]

On the game Jungle Hunt, I seem to remember the action happened from left to right.  Your character moved towards the right side of the screen.  In the game I have now, the action moves right to left.  Am I not remembering correctly, or is this gameplay backwards?

 

Nope. Jungle Hunt was always right to left, even in the arcade.

 

On the same game, I also remember that during the first boulder stage, the rocks came at a very manageable speed.  The large rocks bounced very high and occassionally I could time a move where I stood up early and got an extra 600 or so points, (how much I don't exactly recall, but I remember that there were additional points.)  The game I have now, the rocks are going so fast that you have to jump LONG before the little ones get to you, and timing the duck under the large ones is very difficult.  In addition, on the boulder stages thereafter, a large boulder is certain death.  This stage seems like it has been sped up somehow.

 

Can't say for sure, but is the difficulty switch set on "B" or "A"? "A" would be more difficult.

 

The game Defender seems to also show the same hyperactivity.  I remember playing the game long ago when I was about ten, and I played through level 100 and quit.  I don't recall at any time during that game ever having the ground explode and everything turn mutant.  I saved every human taken and the game seemed relatively simple.  The game I have now is ridiculously fast.  As early as wave five, I can hear the tones signaling a human is captured within three seconds of the start of the wave.  Again, is my memory hazy, or does this seem way too fast too early?

895693[/snapback]

 

Once again, check the difficulty switches.

[StanJr]

sounds like you suffer from "kid memory." I think we all have bouts of this, where we remember things were much different as a kid, but in fact it is us who have changed and the game has stayed the same. Jungle Hunt is exactly as you describe not as you remember (with the direction of the action, I suffer from this as well, photographic dyslexia, I remember pictures reveresed, but not words). The boulders move faster if you walk to the left, if you stay to the right, they come slower. Big boulders are always death if you don't time it just right. Difficulty switches could play a role as well?

 

Defender is also just as you have described. If you fail to save the humans the entire place goes to shit and you are bombarded by mutants. Again, check game settings and difficulty. Did you have parents who might have selected the easier game variations for you to play?

 

Either way, have fun reliving the classics as a grown-up! You'll be amazed at the memories it can bring back!

[pacmanfevr76]

I never messed with the game variations then; I always just played game one, (except for Pac-Man.) I have checked the switches over and over. I know there is no way in the world I could have played 100 levels of what I see now at age ten. Every game I have played but those two that I mentioned I am now far and away better at.

 

This has been basically the way most of my Atari blasts from the past have gone:

 

1.) Remember about what my score was back in the 1980's, which I have done pretty accurately after almost twenty years.

 

2.) Game one: Get about 80% of that score.

 

3.) Game two: Double or triple my old record.

 

4.) Game three: Time the game for an hour to find out about long it will take me to break the existing TwinGalaxies world record.

 

I did that with Dig Dug, Yar's Revenge, Joust, Q-Bert, and a couple of others. I was hoping to do that with Defender as well, but I ran into a ten-foot thick wall there.

Edited July 21, 2005 by pacmanfevr76